Blue Skies, Green Hills (a Primary Fears prequel)
by PyreFly77
Summary: In one week, half of the Paw Patrol ended up nearly-incapacitated from horrific night terrors. At the end of that week, Marshall was the third to earn this dubious honor, but before that, Chase and Rocky went through the same thing. These are their stories.
1. Chapter A1: The Starting Pistol

_**UPDATE 02/03/2019: A cover image has been recently added to this fic, made as a gift by Zojak. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to make this for me. It means more than you might think that you took the time to make something for me like this. Anyway: on with the show.**_

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It was a new day in Adventure Bay. A little cloudy, but the sun otherwise shone brightly and the wind blew gently. In Marshall's estimation, it was hard to wish for better weather as his alarm rang to wake him up.

"Wait… alarm?" Marshall thought as his capacity to think returned.

Considering that Chase would usually wake them up before their alarms went off, Marshall couldn't help but find this odd. Chase was always the early bird, but this time he was nowhere to be found as Marshall lay there slowly waking himself up.

"Did he forget? That's not like him..." Marshall thought. "Ah, well, he'll probably be in the Lookout."

Marshall decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and after a few minutes, stretched and walked to the Lookout. As he arrived, Skye, Rubble, Rocky and Zuma were all busying themselves with their food, but Marshall couldn't help but notice something odd. No Chase.

"Morning, pups!" Marshall said, prompting Skye and Rocky to look up from their meals.

"Oh, morning, Marshall! How'd you sleep?" Skye asked with a smile and some crumbs around her mouth.

"Pretty good." Marshall replied. "Hey, Skye. Have you seen Chase today?"

"Actually, I was gonna ask you that." Skye replied. I haven't seen him all day. My alarm got me up for the first time in who-knows-how-long, but Chase usually beats it."

"MY alarm got ME up for the first time in who-knows-how-long." Rocky added. "I thought Chase just overslept for once."

Marshall grew more and more worried. "Really? It's not like him to oversleep..."

"Maybe he's sick?" Zuma piped up, having stopped eating for a while.

"Could be." Rubble added. "Like when Marshall and Skye got sick, they could barely move."

Marshall and Skye shuddered. That was one of the last things they needed reminding of.

"...I'm gonna go look for him." Marshall decided, turning towards the Lookout's door.

"Come right back if something's wrong, OK?" Rocky called after him.

"Oh, I will." Marshall replied as he walked out the door, praying at the back of his mind that he wouldn't have to.

Marshall's first thought was to check Chase's house. Maybe that held some clues as to his disappearance? What Marshall found when he arrived, however, wasn't a clue, but Chase himself, turned away from Marshall and facing the back of his house in complete silence.

"I guess he really DID oversleep! First time for everything..." Marshall thought.

"Oh, there you are, Chase! Are you OK? You're missing brea-"

Marshall immediately froze up at what he heard next. He could swear that he was just hearing things, but it sounded like Chase just emitted a sound that no-one would ever associate with him. A strangled sob.

"...Ch-chase?" Marshall asked in quiet confusion, wondering if he was hearing things. What greeted him next was a long, barely-suppressed whimper.

"Chase, wh-what's wrong?" Marshall asked, the alarm in his voice rising more and more. Chase only replied with sniffling and further sobs.

"Chase, hold on, I'll be right back!" Marshall yelled in a couple of seconds, turning around and blazing a trail back to the Lookout.

Was he dreaming? If he was, then he didn't have time to stop and find out. It was just too out there to be real. Chase in tears? The mere thought alone was unfathomable. Chase was the unshakable second-in-command of the Paw Patrol, who almost never failed to keep a professional attitude. And now he was unable to even look at one of his closest friends for crying. This was wrong. All wrong. He had to get Ryder.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Rocky asked, having been alerted to the yelling.

"Was that Marshall?" Skye added with concern.

"What's going on?" added a confused Rubble.

The pups all started to suspect something wrong when they heard Marshall yelling from outside, and the point was driven home when they saw a black and white blur come tearing around the corner with pure fear on his face, completely ignoring their frantic yells until his legs got tangled up in a play rope and he came rolling to a halt.

"Argh… c'mon, I don't have… gah!" Marshall angrily muttered as he thrashed around in a bid to free himself.

This would usually be the point where Marshall would either be dazed or crack a stupid joke. When he did neither as he tried to wriggle out of the rope that was ensnaring him, the other pups grew more worried still.

"Marshall, slow down!" Skye yelled. "What's wrong?"

Skye pinned Marshall in place with her paws while Rocky and Zuma helped untangle him.

"Ch-chase is… Chase… Chase… is… i-is… Chase is..." Marshall spluttered. No matter how he tried to string the words together in his head, they just didn't sound right.

"Chase is what?! C'mon, dude! Say it!" Zuma finally interjected.

"...Chase… is… Chase is crying…" Marshall finally completed his sentence.

It sounded just as bizarre to him as it likely did to everyone else, who stared blankly at him for a number of seconds. Nobody seemed sure what to make of what Marshall just said.

"...ha. Ha ha ha ha… You… you're a funny pup, Marshall… Always ready with a joke..." Rubble weakly piped up with uncertain laughter, before Marshall gave him a more intense glare than anything the pups had ever seen from him. Rubble balked. Marshall didn't exactly say that he wasn't joking, but with the look he was giving Rubble, Marshall didn't need to.

"...you're serious?" Skye whispered.

"Dead." Marshall replied.

"Th-that can't be. Marshall, you realise what you're saying, right?" Rocky asked.

"I know full well what I'm saying, Rocky. Tell me you don't think I'm lying." Marshall replied with annoyance, directing his glare at Rocky.

"B-but that can't be wight! It's Chase! He never cwies!" Zuma shouted, unable to comprehend what he was being told.

"Look, go see for yourselves if you don't believe me!" Marshall shot back, visibly frustrated. "I need to talk to Ryder!"

Marshall practically trampled the other pups as he made a beeline for the elevator. The other pups decided to follow his advice. If Marshall was this shaken and frustrated, whatever he saw can't have been anything good. On one hand, it seemed too silly to be true. But on the other, Marshall and Chase were practically siblings, and Marshall wasn't exactly known for being a liar. If anything could distress him like that, it'd have to do with Chase.

Ryder was startled by the sudden crash into his door. He was quite happily finishing getting dressed and making his bed until the loud bang filled his room and shook his door. Something told Ryder that the noise wasn't exactly a mail call.

"Hello?! Who's there?!" Ryder yelled. "If that was a joke, it wasn't funny!"

"Ryder! Please! You gotta come see this!" the frantic voice came from the other side.

Ryder could tell that the voice belonged to Marshall, but what had him in such a panic? He moved to the door with a sense of urgency, opening it.

"Marshall? What's up? Where's the fire?" Ryder asked concernedly. The look on Marshall's face indicated that whatever he was going to say, Ryder wasn't going to like it.

"Chase, what happened?"

"What's wrong, Chase?"

"Are you OK?"

"Are you hurt?"

A chorus of worried yells filled the air. The Paw Patrol had never seen their leader figure like this before. There was nothing off about seeing Chase sad, but not only was he totally unresponsive, he was downright crying. Whatever set him off had to be bad. The worried yells and strangled crying continued until Ryder and Marshall came running around the corner.

"See, Ryder? Look!" Marshall yelled in a panic.

Ryder stared in disbelief. He initially assumed that Marshall was trying to prank him, but he was forced to disregard that theory when Marshall got unusually defensive. He cursed himself for not realising it sooner. The two loved each other like brothers. How could Marshall be playing pranks about something like this?

"Marshall… I'm sorry I doubted you..." Ryder whispered with a bug-eyed expression.

Marshall didn't reply. He had something far bigger on his mind, and that something was lying right in front of him.

"Chase…? Are you OK? What's wrong?" Ryder asked sympathetically.

Suddenly, Chase reacted by slowly turning around and looking right at Ryder. The look he was giving Ryder felt like an arrow through the heart. Chase had a look of total disbelief. Of fear. Of sadness. His eyes glistened with tears. After a pause of a few seconds, Chase bolted forward and leapt straight at Ryder, screaming tearfully into his owner's chest.

Everybody stared on in complete bafflement. The morning had gotten more and more frightening as time went by, and now it seemed that things had reached a head. They weren't used to seeing their leader in tears, and they were even less used to seeing their leader hysterically bawling like a frightened puppy. The period of bafflement lasted for a little less time for Ryder, who kneeled for a while with the same expression as everyone else, before realising what was going on: Whatever happened, Chase needed him. Now more than ever. Without another thought, Ryder wrapped his arms around Chase, hugging him as tightly as he could as the shepherd continued to wail and cry.

The feeling among the remaining pups was total anxiety. They knew that this was a sight that'd be burned into their minds for some time to come, and one that would very likely give them nightmares of their own.

* * *

 _ **I'm back. As you can see, I decided on the Primary Fears prequel first from my list of ideas. You may have noticed that this wasn't as detailed in terms of wording as Primary Fears. I wasn't kidding when I said "truncated", after all. I'll be saving my focus for the next fic I write (which will be the one concerning a short-term amnesiac Rubble). The focus will be as such: Three chapters for Chase, three for Rocky. Simple. The uploads will be one a day, as per usual. Apologies if this isn't up to the standard of Primary Fears, but I hope you stick by this all the same. Thanks for listening. Goodnight.**_


	2. Chapter A2: The First of Many

Time had ground to a near-halt after Ryder had taken Chase away to talk in private. The pups had confirmed among themselves that no, they weren't dreaming. They really did see their second-in-command screaming and crying in total terror. The Lookout had fallen almost entirely silent. Everyone was trying their hardest, but they simply couldn't process what they'd seen that day. The silence was occasionally broken by the pups making conversation among each other, trying to figure out what had caused Chase to act like that, but none of them were able to come up with anything, plunging the Lookout back into silence.

Marshall and Skye in particular had gone completely quiet. They'd both known Chase longer than anyone there, but not once had they seen Chase like that. The scene played over and over in their heads, rendering the pair unresponsive until their Pup Tags eventually went off after an indeterminate amount of time.

"Pups… I'm ready to talk. Come to the Lookout." Ryder said quietly, lacking his usual excited flair.

The pups didn't wait to be asked twice, as they all quickly ran for the elevator in complete silence. All save for Marshall, who hadn't left his spot in front of the elevator for the entire time.

"First in, huh, Marshall?" Rocky asked flatly. The intent to make a joke was there, but the emotion was not.

"Mm-hm." Marshall replied in the same tone.

The pups arrived in the Lookout to see Ryder standing before them, looking morose.

"So, pups… You might wanna get comfortable. We might be here a little while." Ryder began.

"How can we get comfortable at a time like this?!" Zuma replied.

"Ryder, sir. What did Chase say?" Marshall asked.

"Not a whole lot at first." Ryder explained. "But eventually, he told me that he'd had a really bad dream."

The pups paused as they took in what Ryder said.

"A nightmare? Seriously? All this over a nightmare?" Skye asked with a note of incredulity.

"Hey, if it got CHASE like that, its gotta be bad, right?" Rubble opined.

"Oh, it was, Rubble." Ryder answered. "Chase actually dreamed that… we lost someone..." Ryder's voice became far more solemn at his last sentence.

Another pause. Suddenly, Chase's despair made much more sense. Death wasn't something that any of the Paw Patrol ever liked thinking about, especially on the subject of one of their own. Marshall recalled some of the times where Chase flew off the handle at him for some of his more dangerous rescues, and even more of the pieces fell into place for him.

Among the pups, there was a collective "Ohhhhh..."

"NOW I get it..." Rocky chimed in. "I hate to ask, Ryder, but… who'd we lose?"

"Well, it's funny..." Ryder replied haltingly. "The one we lost… It was… um… Well… it was, ah… well… me."

The pups paused for a third time.

"I see now..." Marshall whispered with a disturbed expression. "Do I even wanna know how it happened?"

"Apparently, I was hanging from a branch off a cliff. Ryder went on. "Chase was rushing to try and save me, but as he reached me… it broke and… well..."

"Yeah, we get it!" Rocky interrupted, looking perturbed.

"Yeah… He said he broke the news and a little while afterwards… you were all at my funeral..."

The pups whimpered at the thought. They knew their work was dangerous, but Chase always seemed the most concerned if something didn't go right for one of them. It didn't take much to imagine how Chase might feel if he failed to stop one of their own from dying outright. Especially if that one happened to be the one who he considered for all intents and purposes to be his father.

"It doesn't make sense!" Zuma finally spoke up. "This is Wyder we're talking about! He goes through dangewous stuff all the time! He wouldn't go down that easy!"

Skye turned towards him. "C'mon, think about it, Zuma! Ryder's been here all our lives for us! Especially Chase! Think about how you'd feel if he… he..." Her voice started to crack.

"Skye." Ryder gently interrupted. "It was all a dream. It's as Zuma said. I do dangerous stuff all the time. Heck, you all do. But we know this better than anyone. That's why we all do everything we can to stay safe on our missions."

"But..." Rubble said with a shaky voice. "Things could go wrong at any time… Like in Chase's dream…"

"You're right." Ryder replied, getting up and moving to his pups. "But it's not as if we charge into danger blindly. Plus, we've got each other. You all know that you can count on one another to help you all out of a jam, right?"

"But, Ryder-!" Rocky stammered.

"I know what you're thinking." Ryder went on. "Chase couldn't stop the worst from happening. But think about it. How many times has one of us royally blown it when the chips are down? When things look their worst, have we ever been known to screw up?"

The pups all tried to come up with an answer, but to all of their shock, none were able to. After a ten-second lull, Ryder spoke again.

"There you go. None of you. Especially not Chase. Doesn't he always come through?"

"Is that even a question?!" Marshall barked back, unable to keep from smiling a little.

"Yeah! Always!" Skye added.

"Isn't Chase one step below you for a reason?!" Rocky yelled.

"Chase never loses! He always come through!" Rubble added.

"Chase wouldn't scwew up at a time like that!" Zuma shouted.

Ryder laughed. "There you go. All a dream, right?" Ryder kneeled down and spread his arms for a hug, which all of the pups happily accepted, running at him and jumping into his arms one by one.

The pups simply sat there for a while, enjoying one another's embrace, until Marshall finally spoke up again.

"So… How's Chase now? Can we see him?"

Upon hearing Marshall's question, Ryder's body stiffened, giving Marshall the feeling that he wasn't going to like Ryder's answer.

"Well..." Ryder began, breaking the hug and standing up. "...Chase… asked me not to let any of you see him…" The pups felt their stomachs drop and their faces fall. "...he told me how embarrassed he is over crying like that. Especially in front of all of you. He hates that he got so upset."

"But he doesn't have anything to be embarrassed about!" Skye yelled. "We're all worried about him! He doesn't want us to see him upset?! That's… just… silly!"

"He can't just shut himself off!" Marshall added. "Can't you do something?!"

"Marshall! Skye! Calm down!" Ryder ordered, before shifting to a softer tone. "I'm as upset as you, but yelling like this won't help anyone. Let's just take some deep breaths, OK?"

At Ryder's behest, Marshall and Skye did as they were told, taking in long, slow breaths before Ryder spoke again.

"I knew you were going to say that. I was going to try and convince him to let you speak to him, actually. I know how important he is to all of you."

It wasn't much, but at this point, the pups would take all the reassurance they could get. All of them gave a small smile in response.

"Well… It's something." Skye said. "You can do it, right?"

Ryder wanted to reply with "I'll do my best." but deep down, knew that the pups weren't going to take that answer well. Swallowing his doubt, he returned Skye's smile.

"Of course, Skye." he replied.

About half an hour had passed from that point on. Ryder had returned to his room where the pups assumed Chase was staying as a shell of himself. Or was he OK? These constant questions proved more tormenting to Marshall and Skye than any other. While Zuma, Rocky and Rubble tried to play to take their minds off the fiasco, any attempt to get Marshall and Skye involved resulting in them half-heartedly joining in for a few moments before simply walking away. Neither of them could stop thinking about Chase. All they could do was lie in their houses and pray that Ryder could convince him to let them speak to him.

Eventually, the weight on Marshall's mind proved too much. He had to try and share the pain with someone. He got up and walked to Skye's house, peering around the side to see the cockapoo mentally miles away. Marshall's presence, however, caused her to suddenly snap back to reality.

"You doing OK?" Marshall began.

"Do you really have to ask?" Skye replied.

"No, just being polite." Marshall walked up to the door of Skye's house and sat down. "Am I right in guessing you haven't stopped thinking about Chase either?"

"Is it that obvious? How often have you seen Chase like that? Have we ever seen him cry? Least of all like that?"

"Now that you mention it..." Marshall closed his eyes, thinking back to their emergency repair of Farmer Al's barn. "...Rocky told me when Al and Yumi got married that he thought he saw him crying a little. But… that's as far as it goes."

"I didn't think it was possible for a nightmare to hit someone that hard. But then again, I've never had a dream that horrible…" Skye's voice lowered in fear. "I mean, Ryder dead? I can't even think about it..."

"So don't." Marshall quickly cut in, moving in and nuzzling her, trying to stop her from picturing the nightmare too vividly. "I just hope he wants to talk to us at least."

Skye nuzzled Marshall back. "Then we can tell him what a silly pup HE'S being for a change."

Marshall giggled in response. He was about to retort until his and Skye's Pup Tags went off.

"Skye! Marshall! Good news!" Ryder proclaimed with an almost giddy undertone. "Chase has agreed to let you both talk to him!" The last sentence didn't take long in eliciting an excited gasp from the pups. "He says he doesn't want it to take long, but he at least wants to make sure you aren't worried about him. Come on up whenever you're ready, OK?"

As Ryder hung up the call, neither Skye or Marshall could suppress the loud "YES!" that came from both of them, nor could they suppress their excited barking. Finally, after seeing Chase the way he was, they had a chance to try and make things right. The two excitedly charged past the confused trio of Rocky, Rubble and Zuma and into the elevator, only for Marshall to slip on a stray chew toy and make his entrance in classic Marshall fashion.

"Hey, you wiped out! Maybe things are going back to normal after all!" Skye said with a smile, lying flat on her back from Marshall crashing into her.

"Only with me could that sentence make sense!" Marshall replied proudly, giving them both their first decent laugh all day.


	3. Chapter A3: The Tipping Point

It wasn't a good time for Marshall to be feeling like trash. After he and Skye had spoken with Chase the previous day, neither Marshall or Skye felt much better. In fact, they left disappointed. As much as they tried, they only managed to get Chase to open up slightly. As much as Chase insisted that he was feeling better after a long talk, his body language and tone of voice implied that he was still anything but. They saw neither hide nor hair of him for the rest of the day, leading the pair of them to sleep lightly that night, the thoughts of Chase still weighing heavily on their minds. They couldn't have gotten more than about four hours of sleep in total.

And even though Marshall had to get Chickaletta out of a tree for the umpteenth time, the thoughts hadn't gotten any less nagging. While Chase would usually go with him, despite the shepherd's protests, Ryder had sent Rocky in his place. Chase had said that he was feeling OK, but it was obvious to everyone that he still wasn't, and Ryder couldn't in good conscience send him out while he was still feeling so downtrodden.

"Marshall!" a voice barked in his ear.

"AH!"

Rocky's voice jolted Marshall back into reality yet again. He'd been spacing out nonstop since the day began, unable to take his mind off of his brother figure. He barely noticed his Pup Tag go off, completely missed Ryder's instructions, took a few wrong turns on the way to the scene and now had forgotten to raise his ladder.

"S-sorry, Rocky!" Marshall stammered.

"Marshall, are you feeling OK? That's the fifth time you've spaced out today."

Marshall sighed. "No. But I'll tell you later. Arf! Ladder up!"

Rocky watched as Marshall's ladder raised to the top of the tree Chickaletta had gotten stuck in. He was concerned about Chase too, but nowhere near to the extent that Marshall likely was. One look at his face was all it took to see that Marshall was feeling utterly sick about the matter. Skye had told him that their attempt to talk hadn't gone so well, so it made sense that Marshall hadn't stopped thinking about it. Too bad it was happening at such a bad time.

Marshall climbed the ladder to the top of the tree, where Chickaletta stared at him.

"Hi, Chickaletta! Not much to do up here, huh?" Marshall cheerily greeted the chicken, who clucked in response. "You're all good to come down, now."

Marshall was leaning over his ladder, which would allow Chickaletta to jump on his head. As he did so, however, the thoughts of Chase started up again. As much as he tried to keep them out of his head at such a crucial moment, he pictured a haunted-looking Chase sitting in Ryder's bed as he and Skye tried to console him, to tell him that Ryder wouldn't make that kind of mistake, and was going to be harder to kill than that. All their words seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

Chickaletta jumping on his head didn't do much to bring him back to reality, nor did the fact that the extra weight, combined with the lack of attention was causing him to slowly tip over the edge of his ladder.

"Marshall! Hey!" Rocky shouted from below. He was getting slightly annoyed at Marshall's spacing out, as much as he understood the reason for it. But then he saw Marshall starting to tip over, and the annoyance was replaced by raw terror.

"MARSHALL! LOOK OUT!" Rocky screamed from below.

"AH! Hu- Whoa!"

Chickaletta, by this point, noticed Marshall's tipping forward, and was thankfully smart enough to hop off of Marshall's head and onto his ladder. It was all she could do as the dalmatian tipped over the edge and started plummeting to the ground far below.

"ARF! NET!" Rocky screamed the words as loudly as he could as Marshall toppled off the ladder with a scream of his own.

The net cannon sprang forth from Chase's Pup Pack and fired a net at where Marshall was about to land. Mercifully, the net landed in the right place to catch the falling dalmatian. Marshall bounced off of the net and hit the floor next to his fire truck with a heavy thud.

"Marshall! What happened?! Are you hurt?!" Rocky ran over to his fallen friend, who could only groan and whine in pain as he writhed around on his front.

He'd hit the net, but it only just managed to break his fall. That, combined with the impact as he hit the ground after the bounce, meant that the answer to Rocky's question was a fairly obvious "yes". The blood drained from Rocky's face as he frantically called Ryder.

"Ryder, sir! It's Rocky! Chickaletta's safe, but Marshall fell off his ladder and hit the floor! He's hurt!" Rocky yelled in panic.

"What?! Oh, no! How badly?" Ryder asked, his expression shifting immediately at the word "hurt".

"He can barely move! Send help!" Rocky replied.

Ryder arrived on the scene near-immediately a few seconds later, with Zuma hitching a ride with him. Ryder was as white as a sheet the entire time. Zuma had been brought along to drive Marshall's ambulance, owing to his previous experience with handling the other pup's vehicles. It didn't take the three long to blaze a path to the vet's.

"I have to ask, Ryder." the vet began. "What in the world was Marshall doing? He's very lucky he only came away with the bruises he has. In a worse case, he might have broken his ribs."

"I don't know, Doctor." Ryder sighed. "But I'm going to find out. What should we do?"

"He'll need a couple of days rest. Try to limit physical activity and contact with his front to a minimum."

Marshall felt unbelievably guilty. His constant worrying had just gotten him badly hurt and knocked him out of commission for the next couple of days. Chase was going to kill him. That is if Ryder didn't do the deed first.

Back at the Lookout, Zuma had driven Marshall back in his ambulance with Ryder close behind. Marshall had asked Ryder if he could explain himself in private. He knew he'd have to answer why he kept spacing out, but the last thing he needed was for Chase to hear him. He knew that if Chase knew that he was the reason for Marshall's worries, he'd feel even worse.

Ryder brought Marshall to his room and sat him down on his bed, being careful not to touch his wounded torso.

"So, Marshall." Ryder began. "I think you know what I'm about to ask you. You're usually on the ball when it comes to an emergency. So why now did you space out at the worst time?"

Marshall sighed heavily. "Ugh, it's Chase!" Marshall replied, completely honestly. "I haven't stopped thinking about him since last morning! And after we talked to him, I've only been more worried!"

Ryder's expression went from one of inquiry to one of horror. Deep down, he had a feeling that Marshall spaced out earlier because of Chase's dilemma, but he'd dismissed it as a one-time thing. He never imagined that it would get him hurt.

"Have you ever seen Chase like that?! He needs us, and... he just pushed us out!" Marshall's voice started to become pained. "I know that I shouldn't be thinking about that during an emergency, but I can't stop… He's acting like nothing's wrong, but it's obviously not nothing…" Marshall lowered his head in shame. "But if you want to punish me in some way, then-"

"Marshall, don't be ridiculous." Ryder immediately cut Marshall off. "If anyone needs to be punished here, it's me. You clearly weren't fit to tackle an emergency from the start of the day. I think I knew that you and Skye couldn't stop thinking about Chase. But I sent you out, anyway. You could've broken your ribs because of me."

Ryder cupped Marshall's cheek in his hand as they shared a sad look.

"I'm really sorry I sent you out there like that. That accident you had was my fault. I should've sent someone else." Ryder whispered.

"Ryder, sir, you had no choice!" Marshall replied, nuzzling his owner's hand. "It's my fault for being all over the place today!"

Ryder leaned in and hugged Marshall's head, taking care not to touch his front.

"Let's just say we both screwed up today, huh?"

Marshall didn't reply as he closed his eyes and hugged Ryder back carefully.

"I think I need to have another talk with Chase. I'll see if I can get him to talk to you again. Sound good?" Ryder asked.

"Yeah, totally." Marshall replied, relieved at Ryder's reaction. "Thanks, Ryder."

As the two embraced, they hadn't noticed that Chase had snuck close to Ryder's closed bedroom door and listened in, after being denied the chance to read Marshall the riot act for getting hurt and scaring him. As he heard Marshall pour his heart out, he'd turned as white as a ghost under his fur. He felt like throwing up. His reaction to his bad dreams had already crippled everyone's morale and now the one pup he loved like a brother had just flirted with having his ribs broken.

And he was responsible. It became clear to Chase that he was dragging everyone down. The guilt Chase felt at that point was immeasurable as he slunk away from the door. The team had taken a major hit to their morale. And all because of a stupid dream.

Chase made a decision. He had to keep lying. After Marshall spoke to him, all he had to do was pretend that he was feeling better. Pretend that his nightmares weren't weighing on him. After all, if everything looked fine on the outside, the inside would soon catch up. If he just stayed upbeat, if he didn't think about it, the nightmares would go away...

...wouldn't they?

 **CONTINUED IN PRIMARY FEARS**

* * *

 _ **That does it for Chase's chapters. If by chance you haven't read Primary Fears yet, it's my previous fic. Head on over there to see where this takes Chase (and by extension, the Paw Patrol as a whole).**_

 _ **I only hope that this shorter format isn't too much of a problem. Rest assured that this is the only time I'll be using it. My next fics will be using a more-detailed style. Anyway, with Chase over and done with, next on the list is Rocky. Three chapters for him, then this will be done. Thanks for listening, and I'll be back tomorrow. Goodnight.**_


	4. Chapter B1: Green Around the Gills

Another day just like any other in Adventure Bay had dawned. The sun was bright, clouds were scarce, and the Paw Patrol were slowly waking up one by one. Chase, of course, had woken up first, and after patroling the Lookout for a while, he went to wake up everyone else. Much though he slept poorly last night thanks to grappling with more bad dreams, it wouldn't do for the others to catch him oversleeping. He groaned and smiled when he saw Marshall, his closest friend, continuing to sleep like a stone.

"Marshall... Marshall! C'mon you lazybones! It's 9AM!" Chase said, shaking Marshall.

"...mmm... mrrrrggghhh... Chase... it's... too early..." Marshall slurred as he slowly woke from his slumber.

"No it's not! We get up at this time every day!"

"...we... do?"

"Believe it or not! We don't have all day to lie in bed like chumps, now get up!"

Marshall only replied with a sleepy groan. Slowly, he got out of his house and stretched.

"You know, most of us have alarms..." Marshall slurred, still trying to find his feet.

"And how often have they worked, huh?" Chase replied.

"Well they work for you! You don't let us use ours!" Marshall complained, smiling at Chase, who smirked and shook his head in response. "Speaking of alarms, how've you been sleeping, lately?" he continued.

Chase's smile vanished, replaced with a shifty look. "Oh, fine. I slept OK last night."

"You sure? You didn't get more nightmares, did you?" Marshall gave Chase a suspicious look. He'd been more distant than ever over the past few days. His sudden return to his previous calm demeanour was fooling no-one.

"Nah. It was all good. Slept like you." Chase replied.

"DID you?" Marshall replied, staring into Chase's tired eyes. "You've been looking more ti-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGGHH!"

The conversation swiftly halted as a bloodcurdling scream shattered the tranquility of the morning air. Marshall and Chase froze up and gave each other an identical look of terror as their blood turned to ice.

"Wha-?" Marshall stammered.

"Who-?" Chase replied.

"Was tha-?"

"It sounded like..."

The source of the scream hit both pups like a ton of bricks. "ROCKY!"

It didn't matter how fast the two ran for Rocky's house. Neither of them could go fast enough for their liking. Marshall followed closely behind Chase as the two ran as fast as they could. As they reached Rocky's house, Marshall failed to slow down in time, accidentally plowing straight through Chase and into the pups who'd already gathered there.

Marshall's hastily-grumbled "Ugh, sorry..." as he recovered went largely ignored as the others picked themselves up. Everyone, Marshall included, had more pressing concerns than Marshall's clumsiness, and Marshall himself couldn't even bring himself to crack a stupid pun. The situation was simply too dire.

They all looked on at Rocky, who lay completely still with a face like he'd just seen a ghost, his eyes wet with tears. Cries of "Are you OK?!" and "What happened?!" filled the air for a moment. When everything fell quiet again, it took the pups a little while to realise that Rocky was staring directly at Marshall.

"...Marshall? Is... is that... you?" Rocky squeaked.

Marshall was briefly taken aback. "What do you mean 'is that me'?! What happe- UGH!"

Marshall couldn't complete his sentence or even blink before Rocky threw himself at him with all his might, knocking him onto his back. Rocky immediately burst into hysterical wailing and clung to Marshall as if he'd just passed away on the spot. Everything was happening too quickly for Marshall to comprehend, leaving him to lie there in shock.

The other pups couldn't believe their eyes. They had just as much idea of what was going on as Marshall did. Rocky had cried a few times before, but never quite like this. All they could do was look on with the same slack-jawed expression.

After a while of listening to Rocky's wailing, Marshall realised that whatever happened to Rocky, he needed him badly. He shook off his disbelief and embraced Rocky as tightly as he could.

"Pups?! What's going on out here?! I heard a scream!" Ryder came charging around the corner like a bull with its tail on fire, only to stop dead in his tracks upon seeing the scene. His pups were crowded around Rocky and Marshall with flabbergasted expressions as the former screamed and cried like never before and the latter gave him a sad, confused look.

"Marshall... are you going to tell me what's going on, or is your guess as good as mine?" Ryder asked with a haunted expression. Marshall's lack of reply served as his answer, as he continued to give him the same look.

"Oh, Rocky... what's wrong?" Ryder asked quietly, approaching Rocky and attempting to pick him up. What he wasn't expecting was for Rocky to thrash and fight his way out of Ryder's gentle grip.

"NO! NO!" Rocky screamed as he continued to cling to Marshall for dear life.

Ryder flinched back. "Rocky! Wha-?!" Ryder stammered. "What the heck's gotten into you?!

Rocky's only response was more sobbing. All while Marshall and the other pups stared on in disbelief. In that moment, their friend had been stolen away and replaced with someone entirely different.

Ryder found himself more tired than he'd been before going to sleep after hauling both Marshall and Rocky up to his room. It was clear that whatever was ailing Rocky, it had to do with Marshall, given Rocky's staunch refusal to leave his side. For an indeterminate amount of time, Ryder tried to soothe Rocky by holding him and Marshall close and gently stroking Rocky's back. Neither he or Marshall dared to say anything until Rocky was at least slightly coherent. Eventually, Rocky had been reduced to quiet sobbing.

"Rocky... what happened? Are you OK?" Marshall whispered.

"DO I LOOK OK?!" Rocky screamed in response, prompting Marshall to pull back in shock.

"Rocky, shhhh, shhhhh..." Ryder whispered, hugging him tighter. "Let's not have any of that."

A couple more minutes passed as Rocky calmed down again. "I'm... s-sorry..." he sobbed. "I'm just... so s-s-s-scared..."

"Did you have bad dreams or something?" Marshall whispered, half-jokingly, to a few seconds of silence.

"...y... yeah..." Rocky sobbed.

"Wait, what?!" Marshall thought, abruptly stiffening in surprise. He wasn't expecting that of all things to be the reason. Nor was Ryder, whose eyes widened in response.

"Oh, not you too..." Ryder said sympathetically. "What kind of nightmare could cause all this?"

Of all the things that could've happened again, why did it have to be this? Ryder had his hands full trying to get Chase back to his old self after his own nightmare, but now Rocky was suffering the same thing. And taking it far worse. Whatever he dreamed about, something told Ryder that he wasn't going to be any easier to help than Chase.

"...it was... about... Marshall..." Rocky whimpered.

"Well, DUH..." Marshall thought to himself. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what was about to come next.

"Marshall..." Rocky turned to the dalmatian. "...in my dream... you... got into a horrible accident... and... and... lost your memories... You couldn't even... remember your name..."

Marshall froze. "Wha? What kind of accident could cause THAT?!" he asked with a look of horror.

"You fell off your ladder! We saw you in hospital... and you... you... YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHO WE WERE!" Rocky broke down crying again.

Marshall shivered and swallowed hard. The thought of an accident like that was enough to keep him up at night anyway, not least because something similar to it happened a few days ago, but it giving him amnesia with it? He could barely imagine it. Even Ryder started to tear up. Not that either Marshall or Rocky noticed this.

"Oh, Rocky... that's so-" Marshall squeaked.

"I'm not done..." Rocky whimpered. A feeling of dread filled Marshall's stomach. That nightmare was bad enough, but now it was going to get worse?

"Next thing I knew... you'd gone missing from the hospital... but when we next found you... you... you hated us!" Rocky had started to cry even more heavily. "You hated us... and you were with Humdinger... he said you were his pup! And you were going with it!" If Marshall and Ryder's jaws had dropped any further, they likely would have fallen off.

"How?! How the heck could I-" Marshall cried.

"BECAUSE HE CONVINCED YOU!" Rocky screamed. "He'd kidnapped you and- and- told you we… were the e-enemy and... took over the city and kicked us all out of town! The Paw Patrol had been... m-m-m-made illegal!" Rocky looked utterly distraught as Marshall sat staring at him in horror. "W-w-w-we lost you- and... you were... a-a totally... d-different pup..."

"STOP IT! JUST STOP IT!" the pups halted in their tracks and looked up to see a tearful Ryder quaking like a leaf.

"R-Ryder?!" Marshall cried in terror as he and Rocky pulled back from his owner.

"That can't happen... it won't... I won't let it! Don't you DARE think for a second that we could lose Marshall like that!" Ryder had gone from being sympathetic to downright yelling.

One look at Ryder was all it took for Marshall to draw the conclusion that Rocky's dream had touched a raw nerve. He knew that Ryder cared deeply about them all, but only now did Marshall know that he cared so much that losing a pup was one of his greatest fears.

For a moment, time seemed to stop altogether, until Ryder hugged the pair of them tighter than ever. Except this time, Ryder was openly sobbing alongside the wailing Rocky. Ryder was no stranger to seeing the pups in tears, but the other way around served as a major shock to Marshall and Rocky. Neither they or the other pups had ever seen him like this, and for Marshall, the situation had finally proven too much. Seeing his owner break down crying proved to be his limit, and he too started to shed tears as he hugged Rocky and Ryder as tightly as he could. At the back of Marshall's mind, a thought persisted.

"This is going to be one long day..."


	5. Chapter B2: Blue in the Face

The other pups had only arrived at Ryder's door long enough to hear him, Rocky and Marshall crying. None of them had a solitary clue of what was going on. The day only continued to get more and more surreal and frightening. Zuma even asked Skye to bite him to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Skye had to tell everyone else not to expect the same thing after begrudgingly complying. Eventually, they heard a barrage of shaky apologies from Ryder of all people for yelling.

"Yelling? Yelling about what?" Rubble asked worriedly.

"Just wait. I think we're not far from finding out." Chase replied.

After a while, they heard Ryder ask Marshall to stay behind while he went to clear things up. They barely heard Marshall's reply a few seconds before the door slowly opened to reveal a red-eyed Ryder, who froze upon seeing the sea of startled faces staring back at him. None of the pups could bring themselves to say anything. Zuma had already proven that they weren't dreaming, so they could only conclude that this insanity was very much real.

Ryder silently walked past them before motioning for the pups to follow him, which they happily did. They found Ryder leading them into the Lookout's main room at the bottom of the elevator, where he sat down on a beanbag.

"So… I'm guessing you pups have a lot of questions." Ryder began with a note of exhaustion.

"Among other things!" Skye replied immediately. "First of all, what the heck's going on with Rocky?!"

Ryder explained about Rocky's nightmare, while also apologising for the yelling. Only one emotion went through the Paw Patrol's minds: Dread.

"Oh, no! Not again!" Skye shouted, images of the day after Chase's nightmare flashing through her head rapidly.

"We… lost Mawshall?! That's… I… ugh..." Zuma shuddered.

"He hated us?! H-how?! He… oh, Marshall..." Rubble whispered with a wavering voice.

"HOW?!" Chase screamed, quaking with fury. "HOW COULD HE?! How could he take Marshall from us?! You all better keep me away from Humdinger, 'cause I'll shoot my net right down his throat! I'M GONNA-"

"CHASE!" Ryder yelled, stopping the ranting shepherd dead. Once he was sure he had his pup's attention, his voice changed to a quieter, more consoling one. "It wasn't real... It was just a dream. None of it happened. And it won't. Marshall's fine. And so's everyone else."

As Ryder slowly approached him, Chase realised that he'd gotten so caught up in hearing about Rocky's nightmare that he'd completely taken leave of his senses, forgetting that Rocky's bad dream was just that. Everyone was giving him an aghast expression. Much though he tried to convince everyone else otherwise, he was still reeling from his own nightmare of Ryder's death. Losing one of their own was still a massively sensitive subject for him.

"I… Oh my gosh, I- I'm so sorry, everyone! That- I don't know where that-!" Chase stammered in horror, before being cut off by Ryder's hand on his head.

"Shhhhhh… Calm down, OK? It's all gonna be fine." Ryder whispered, slowly rubbing Chase's head and placing another hand on his back. "Everything's alright. I've got you..." Now that Ryder had taken the time to calm down, he was able to approach the subject of the nightmare more rationally, despite it being painful for him as well.

Chase said nothing in response, except to close his eyes and lean into his owner. Chase wasn't as good at controlling his emotions as he'd like to think, especially when it came to everyone else's safety. The other pups simply watched as Ryder calmed him back down, still shocked at the abrupt bout of volcanic rage from one of their own.

"Thanks, Ryder, sir… I… I'm awake now. "Chase whispered.

"There you go. Good pup." Ryder whispered soothingly before standing his full height. "Now. I know you're all going to want to talk to Rocky and Marshall..." Ryder said to the rest of the pups. "...But Rocky's still pretty fragile. You all need to handle this delicately. They're still in my room, but I only want one of you going in there at a time. I'll leave it to you to decide who goes first."

"Ryder, sir, what are you going to do now?" Rubble asked.

"I'm gonna check on them one more time." Ryder replied. Then I'm gonna try and stay out of the way for a while. Let you all do your thing. You can handle that, right?"

The pups responded with a chorus of barking. It was clear as day that while this wasn't an official mission, it was just as important. Unlike with Chase, they actually had the chance to speak to their friend. To try and help pull him back. Ryder couldn't help but smile in response.

"That's the spirit. With good pups like you behind him, Rocky will be feeling better in no time!"

Ryder went back to his room as the pups discussed their plans behind him. Despite everything that had gone on in such a short space of time, some measure of his spirit had returned. Rocky may have been an utter wreck earlier, but he was certain that they could get him back to his old self in no time…

...until Ryder froze in place when he picked up the familiar sound of despondent wailing. He felt his heart sink as he frantically ran for his room, opening it to find Rocky in much the same state as when he first found him. Wailing into Marshall's side as the dalmatian held him close. Unlike before, however, Marshall looked decidedly vexed.

"Marshall, what happened?!" Ryder asked worriedly.

"Ryder, sir… I screwed up..." Marshall replied with a mix of sadness and anger.

Marshall had explained that he tried to prove why an accident that would cost his memories would be impossible without killing him or worse, and he'd gone through some of his medical texts with Rocky to prove that he'd likely be a vegetable before losing his memories. Marshall hated to admit it, but it never occurred to him what a terrible idea that was until after Rocky started bawling again.

After Ryder had gently rebuked Marshall for his error, he explained that the others would want to speak to them.

"So, who's going to come first?" Marshall asked.

"I don't know." Ryder replied. "They're all working that out among themselves. In the meantime, you can find another way of helping, right?"

"After what just happened?" Marshall asked sadly. "I'm really not sure."

Ryder sighed. "Look, Marshall. Your heart's in the right place, as always. But I don't think Rocky needs to hear about… you know… right now. All you need is another idea. Another plan of attack. I know you'll think of something." Ryder reached over and patted Marshall on the head.

"Are you… sure, Ryder?" Marshall asked.

"Positive! I know you want Rocky to get better, too."

Marshall paused for a while before speaking. "Thanks, Ryder. I'll think of something."

"Of course you will, Marshall!" Ryder smiled. "You're such a good pup!"

Marshall returned his owner's smile. Ryder always had a talent for psyching them up. Marshall then closed his eyes, thinking long and hard on what to do next that wouldn't end up making things worse. Meanwhile, Ryder turned to Rocky, who'd managed to stop wailing, but continued quietly crying into Marshall's side. Ryder cupped Rocky's head in his hands and softly reassured him about his bad dream being just that, and that the other pups would make sure he knew that by the end of the day.

After Ryder's encouragement, Rocky had finally calmed down, Ryder's words being far more effective now that the boy was in a calmer state of mind.

"...thanks… Ryder..." Rocky whispered flatly.

"Rocky, if you ever need to talk to someone, I'll always be here. So will everyone else. You know that." Ryder replied.

Before Ryder could say anything else, Skye hopped through the dog door.

"Hey, guys. How are things going?" Skye asked.

Ryder turned back to Rocky and smiled. "And here's the first one, now. I'll leave you pups alone."

Ryder got up from his bed, leaving Rocky and Marshall tucked under the sheets, and kneeled down, whispering to Skye about what happened. Marshall and Rocky watched her groan in response to Marshall's mistake, and then nod when being told about what Marshall was going to do next and the need to handle the situation with care. After rubbing her head one last time, Ryder departed without another word.


	6. Chapter B3: Slow Recovery

It had been a few minutes since Chase departed Ryder's room, leaving Marshall and Rocky alone. The silence was oddly tranquil. Rocky's spirits may have still been at an all-time low for him, but Chase and all the other pups had helped to steadily pull him back up. Marshall had done his part as well. Aside from telling Rocky about why his dream was, as Chase put it to their amusement, "a load of poop", he'd also made an effort to remind Rocky of all the fun they'd had together and the missions they'd gone on. If any of their usual suspects were going to try and tear their bond apart somehow, then they were going to have to go way further than what happened in Rocky's dream.

"How do you feel, Rocky?" Marshall asked quietly.

"Er… I guess a little better?" Rocky replied, sounding uncertain.

"Still scared?"

"...not really?"

Marshall sighed. Clearly a pup's work is never done. He racked his brain in search of another thing to talk about. "You don't sound sure, Rocky. You face scarier stuff than silly nightmares every day, like huge cliffs or wild animals… or water..."

Marshall gave a singsong tone to his last word, leaning in and grinning at Rocky while flaring his eyebrows, who shuddered and playfully pushed Marshall's head away.

"Marshall, I thought you were trying to make me feel better, not scare me even more!" Rocky said with the biggest smile he had all day. Marshall laughed. It may have been brief, but the old Rocky had come back to them in that moment.

"There you go! There's your smile!" Marshall barked excitedly. "I thought we'd lost it!" Rocky giggled. Finally, the effort that Marshall and the others were putting in was paying off.

Rocky lay back down against the pillows, continuing to giggle and smile, albeit less widely. It was plain to see that he was more relaxed than he had been all day. The other pups helped him to open up. And now Marshall had been the one to get through to him. Marshall lay next to him and squeezed him tightly, the relief hitting him like a train. He hadn't realised just how much energy he'd used bringing Rocky around. Rocky just nuzzled him in return.

After a few more minutes of peace, as if on cue, Ryder appeared through the door.

"Hey, pups." Ryder began quietly. "How've things been?"

Marshall half-opened his eyes, visibly exhausted. "Better… I think."

"Yeah, actually. A little." Rocky piped up, leaning his head against Marshall's.

Ryder emitted a deep sigh of relief. "See, Marshall? I told you that you'd come up with something!"

"Hey... it wasn't all me." Marshall humbly replied.

"Still, you really came through when Rocky really needed you." Ryder continued, moving to the pups in his bed and scratching both of them behind the ears. "And you weren't sure of yourself!"

The pups lay there and enjoyed the ear-scratching that Ryder was giving them for a while, until Marshall inadvetently snored.

"Marshall. Are you OK? You seem tired." Ryder asked.

Marshall jolted back awake and sighed, Ryder having seen right through him. "Yeah… I am..."

Ryder then turned to Rocky, who looked on. "Rocky. I think Marshall needs a little time alone. He's been busy today, huh?"

Despite Ryder's attempt to try and defuse the tension with a joke, Rocky's face fell quickly, and he went straight back to panicking.

"Marshall needs to go? But, I- I can't! He… I don't want him getting-"

"Rocky." Marshall interrupted with a firm expression. "Trust me. Nothing's going to happen. I just want to go back downstairs. I won't get hurt at all." Marshall fought off the urge to jokingly add "any more than usual". He'd already made Rocky cry once that day. He wasn't in a hurry to do it again.

After pausing for a while, Rocky eventually spoke again. "OK… please be careful..." Rocky conceded.

"Oh, Rocky, what could hurt Marshall in the Lookout?" Ryder said. "Let's just have a chat alone for a while, huh?"

Marshall stretched and hopped out of the bed, only to land flat on his face.

"Agh! Marshall!" Rocky shouted in fear.

"Rocky! I'm OK! Really! How many times have you seen me do that?!" Marshall said quickly, causing Rocky to freeze and slump back into the bed. "Anyway, if you need me again, just..." he looked at Ryder and smirked. "...yelp for help!"

"Hey!" Ryder yelled, eliciting laughter from everyone except Rocky, who remained as quiet as ever as Marshall hopped through the dog door and out of sight.

Marshall felt like his head was sparking. He'd barely moved much throughout the day, but he was unbelievably exhausted. Fighting the biggest fire in the world would tire him out less than the last few hours. As the elevator descended into the main room, he decided that he needed something to relieve his stress, and his prayers were quickly answered when he saw a chew toy in the far corner of the room. The moment the elevator came to a halt, Marshall made a beeline for the toy and gnawed harder than he ever had in his life. His tension started to melt quickly.

After a few minutes, Marshall was feeling a little better. He was still tired, but less stressed than before. But all the same, he decided that he needed a little alone time. As of right now, his brain simply wasn't working. Hoping the other pups wouldn't see him, but with the gut feeling that he'd be spotted immediately, he sauntered outside.

"Marshall!" A familiar voice came from his right.

"Ugh. Nope." Marshall scoffed internally, his gut being proven right as Chase came charging up to him.

"Are you OK? How's Rocky? He's not crying, is he?"

Chase sounded very worried. Despite leaving Marshall and Rocky in better condition than before, he hadn't stopped thinking about how depressed Rocky was the whole time Chase was there, nor about how Marshall had been up there all day.

Marshall simply stared directly ahead, not giving a reply. His brain had essentially switched off during that time.

"Hey! Marshall!" Chase barked.

"GAH! Ugh, sorry, Chase..." Marshall whispered, quickly being jolted out of his stupor.

"You're not looking so hot. I repeat: are you OK?"

Marshall only sighed and closed his eyes, lowering his head. "Chase… could I… have some space, please? I… just need to lie down for a while."

As it became clear that Marshall wasn't up to talking, Chase decided to acquiesce. "Oh. Yeah. Of course. Take all the time you need."

With another fatigued sigh, Marshall set back off on his way. "Thanks, Chase. Talk soon."

Never before had Marshall's house been so inviting. Marshall grabbed his teddy and closed his eyes for a while. After a long few hours of comforting his terrified friend, he'd take whatever rest he could get. Despite everything, though, Marshall simply could not get to sleep. All his thoughts centered around poor Rocky. He seemed slightly better after the pups had gone to see him, but for how long? Chase may have been scared after his nightmare, but Rocky seemed downright traumatised. A reaction like that didn't simply go away, after all.

Marshall wasn't sure of how long he laid there with his thoughts before his Pup Tag went off.

"Hey, Marshall?" came Ryder's quiet voice. "Rocky's asked to see you again."

 **CONTINUED IN PRIMARY FEARS**

* * *

 _ **And that's that for these two short stories. Once more, if by chance you haven't read Primary Fears yet, it's my previous fic. If you want to see where this goes, then that's where you'll find out.  
**_

 _ **I'm not going to lie, I feel like there was a lot that could've been done differently in this fic. As was pointed out, my attempt to keep it to three chapters each and to tell an abridged version of what happened left this fic feeling kind of (as** **VenusDemilo-Shirolover2** **put in a PM to me) staccato. I don't regret writing this, since I feel like it shed some light on the events of Primary Fears, but there was much that could've been done better, I think. Still. Take the lessons as they come...**_

 _ **I hope if this fic wasn't up to scratch, then my next fic will be. As I've said, it won't be in the "short story" format, and it'll be the one concerning Rubble after a rescue gone awry. He really doesn't get very many fics. Seriously, of all the pups on this site, if you put his name in as a filter by itself, the results number in the mid-twenties as of this writing (for comparison's sake, the next lowest amount for a pup is Zuma, at almost one hundred. Quite the difference)**_

 _ **As of right now, the only thing I'm certain of is the title, which will be "Bulldog in a Bind". I hope you keep your eyes out for when I release it, and I hope in advance that you enjoy it.**_

 _ **That's all from me. PyreFly out.**_


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